Most recently, two former interns sued Condé Nast, the mass media company behind Vanity Fair, Vogue, The New Yorker and several other publications. The interns pressed charges on the grounds that their internship with the company violated labor laws because they were paid less than $1 per hour.

The results of the litigation remain unclear, but the company recently announced its decision to cancel their internship program entirely.

Similar lawsuits have arisen from interns at other companies as well. Harpers Bazaar faced a suit from an intern who claimed to have worked 40 to 55 hour workweeks with no pay. That suit could not proceed to trial, but in an earlier case a U.S. District Court ruled that Fox Searchlight violated the minimum wage laws when the company did not pay interns who worked on the movie Black Swan.

All of these court cases leave the future of internships uncertain, which leaves unrest among young professionals preparing to enter the workforce. Many employers now look to hire people who have had practical experience in their field, and experience is nearly impossible to come by without internships.

Internships provide a valuable link between the theoretical knowledge gained from college classes and the practical application of this knowledge in the “real world” of business. If more companies follow Condé Nast’s example and shut down their internship programs to avoid a lawsuit, people entering the workforce will have fewer opportunities to gain experience and make connections in the professional realm.

In order for companies to continue to offer internships without fear of a lawsuit, the standards for unpaid internships need to be defined, well understood and sufficiently differentiated from paid internship opportunities.

‘Test for unpaid interns’

The U.S. Department of Labor has outlined six criteria that must be met by for-profit companies that wish to employ interns without pay. To pass the so-called “Test for Unpaid Interns,” a company must structure the internship so that it is similar to training given in an educational environment. The internship must be primarily for the benefit of the intern, and the employer can “derive no immediate advantage from the activities of the intern.”

Additionally, the intern cannot replace or displace regular employees, is not entitled to a job at the end of the internship and understands that he or she is not going to be paid for his or her time.

Essentially, unpaid internships function as an extension of the classroom. In college, students pay to attend classes where they hope to learn necessary skills to help them function capably in their career when they graduate. Unpaid internships can serve this same function outside the classroom by giving interns (or students) an inside look at their potential future job.

However, issues arise when unpaid internships take the format of full-time jobs. Dozens, if not hundreds, of companies offer semester or summer-long internships that operate just as any paid, 40 hours per week job, but they manage to pass the Department of Labor’s test by qualifying that applicants must be receiving college credit for their participation in the internship.

While receiving college credit technically places the internship within the legal parameters of unpaid experience, no clear distinction explains at what point or at what extent the line is crossed between providing an education and benefitting from the work of an unpaid employee.

Trend of discrimination

The grey area between work and education creates a problem in unpaid internships. Working 40 hours per week for no pay is not an economically viable option for many applicants, especially when they also must pay to cover the college credit they receive for the internship. They’re in the hole before they’ve even started.

Because many, arguably most, internship applicants cannot afford to take unpaid internship, a discriminatory trend develops. The pool of applicants for an unpaid internship no longer becomes reflective of the actual diversity of the workforce. Those who cannot afford to sustain themselves without a steady income have the option to either accept the internship and work several other jobs (possibly amounting to 70 or 80 hour workweeks) to make ends meet, or they can find a paid internship or job somewhere else.

This leaves the applicants for unpaid internships largely to those who can afford to sustain themselves without pay—usually those who come from wealthy, upper-class families.

The easy solution is to argue that all internships should be paid. Paid internships would level the playing field, and would lead to greater diversity in the business world because jobs would be given based on merit and not on economic means. But requiring companies to pay their interns will undoubtedly result in more Condé Nast situations and ultimately cause more harm than good to the education of the up and coming workforce.

Instead of doing away with internships entirely, companies need to restructure internship programs that will work both to educate up-and-coming professionals in their desired field, and to shape and develop future employees. An ideal internship program creates a mutually beneficial relationship in which the intern and the company can share ideas.

The future of unpaid internships

So what does this mean for unpaid internships? One solution is to limit the number of hours per week that an intern can work for no pay. The U.S. Department of Labor, using cost of living statistics, should recommend a reasonable number of hours that a person could work while still having time to make enough money in outside jobs to cover his or her rent and living expenses (ideally without having to work 80 hours per week).

Instead of imposing nationwide restrictions, the Department of Labor could make suggestions based on the national cost of living average and leave the states to individually determine the extent to which unpaid hours should be limited.

By limiting the number of unpaid hours, interns could actually treat internships as they would treat a college class. No one class requires a 40-hour-per-week commitment, and many college students work outside jobs to pay for their education. Companies would still be able to offer an educational experience to unpaid interns without the interns feeling like their time and efforts are being exploited.

Additionally, working a limited number of unpaid hours would financially restrict fewer prospective interns. Having time to take on outside jobs would open the pool of applicants to a much broader spectrum. Giving more people access to more job experience will enrich both companies and the workforce as a whole.

Canceling internship programs does not solve any problems. Condé Nast set an unfortunate precedent in making it easier to eliminate the problem entirely rather than address the real heart of the matter.

Ultimately, internships play an important role for many in bridging the gap from college to career. Differentiating paid and unpaid internships as one would differentiate jobs from college classes will make expectations clear for both employers and interns. Tightening the criteria for unpaid internships will expand access to a broader group of interns and leave fewer feeling exploited.

]]>https://mlraposa.wordpress.com/2013/12/17/stricter-criteria-needed-for-unpaid-internships/feed/0Screen shot 2013-12-17 at 1.03.29 PMmlraposaFinals turn college students into babieshttps://mlraposa.wordpress.com/2013/12/11/finals-turns-college-students-into-babies/
https://mlraposa.wordpress.com/2013/12/11/finals-turns-college-students-into-babies/#respondWed, 11 Dec 2013 19:02:32 +0000http://mlraposa.wordpress.com/?p=120During finals week, college students revert to a childlike state. Stress hits and the similarities with teething toddlers begin to emerge. Both groups wear pajamas all day. They seek counsel from their mothers. They cry when they’re uncomfortable, and when all else fails, a bottle usually does the trick.

If finals week, as with much of the college experience, is supposed to prepare students for handling stress in the “real world,” they’re facing a resounding failure. A busy workload should lead to better time-management and finding a good work-life balance. But whining is so much easier.

Unlike babies, college students can better articulate their complaints, especially via twitter. Posts about staying up all night, not showering or spending hours procrastinating become acceptable behavior under the umbrella excuse of finals week. Because of this “finals” is the new “yolo.” For example, here’s how a typical conversation during finals week might go:

“Hi Jane, how are you?”

“Fine. I was supposed to start my 20-page history paper last night, but instead I watched the entire first season of The Walking Dead on Netflix. Now I’m going to have to stay up all night to finish my paper and work on a presentation that’s due tomorrow. And I have a cold. I need coffee. Hashtag finals.”

In this example, Jane is wearing the same sweatpants from three days ago, has her hair in a bun on the top of her head and isn’t wearing make-up to enhance the dramatic affect. Why not exert the least possible amount of effort during finals week? You only live once.

Allowing this sort of babying to go on during finals week sets a bad precedent for jobs in the future. Five years down the road, Jane can’t show up to her boss’s office in sweats and ask for an extension on a big proposal because she hasn’t gotten enough sleep lately. And her co-workers aren’t going to appreciate when a reasonable amount of stress turns Jane into a crabby, flustered nightmare.

When a toddler fusses, people sympathize and want to help because the toddler hasn’t developed the ability to take care of him or herself yet. College students have. Writing a 20-page paper is hard, but so is teething. Stress cannot be a legitimate excuse for neglecting basic human responsibilities like hygiene or being nice to other people.

Instead of falling into the trap of wallowing in self-pity and procrastination, finals week should provide a chance to push oneself to manage schoolwork, extracurricular activities, socializing and personal needs. Finals would be easier to manage if students could be coddled like babies, but at some point, everyone needs to grow up.

]]>https://mlraposa.wordpress.com/2013/12/11/finals-turns-college-students-into-babies/feed/0finalsmlraposaViking Days neglects studentshttps://mlraposa.wordpress.com/2013/10/23/viking-days-neglects-students/
https://mlraposa.wordpress.com/2013/10/23/viking-days-neglects-students/#commentsWed, 23 Oct 2013 17:49:57 +0000http://mlraposa.wordpress.com/?p=113Last weekend, Viking Days gave new meaning to the rouser lyrics, “Fight on for our alma mater, Augustana blue and gold.”

This year, students fought on through homecoming week, balancing celebrations and the stress of midterms. Meanwhile, administration and the development office fought on to wine and dine alumni, leaving students to fend for themselves.

The alumni experience is no doubt very important to the college, particularly when they bring their checkbooks along for the weekend. However, Viking Days should provide an opportunity for students to celebrate as well.

The most obvious instance of catering to alumni at the expense of students was the bastardization of Viking Varieties. For the 60th anniversary, Varieties staged a showboating assortment of student and alumni acts at the Washington Pavilion, including performances of all three choirs and the orchestra.

For the 25 percent of the Augustana student body that participates in choir or orchestra, the “invitation” to perform meant a mandatory time commitment of no fewer than 10 hours on top of our already hectic schedules between homecoming and midterms.

Additionally, the show was scripted. Instead of going to Varieties to see friends from down the hall in their band or the international student who does stand-up, the audience sat through alumni re-living their wonder years while stumbling through poorly written jokes.

For the nearly two-hour long Varieties show, the choirs, orchestra and other talented students paraded around on stage like show ponies getting the audience more and more excited until president Rob Oliver came on stage to make his grand announcement: the college has raised $18 million working toward a $20 million goal needed to build the new Sven Froiland Science Center.

Great. But why are we celebrating money raised for the science center with an event showcasing fine arts? Couldn’t president Oliver at least have thrown the humanities a bone by suggesting alumni also offer support to the music and theater departments that worked tirelessly to entertain them?

Oliver’s announcement is just the tip of the iceberg. While the choirs were waiting to enter for the finale, we saw bartenders dressed in lab coats, desserts in test tubes and buttons reading, “Sven and Ole support the Science Center Project and so do I!” It didn’t take long to realize that our singing wasn’t the grand finale; it was the warm-up before we discover that money is the real reason for the season.

By the end of the night, I felt like one of the Von Trapp kids, only allowed to come to the party if I sang and danced and behaved myself. I stood there behind a proud Captain Oliver thinking about all of the fun events missed or made less enjoyable with the stress of rehearsal always looming overhead.

The most frustrating part of the whole ordeal was that all along the way students were largely ignored. Those who did fork out $15 for a student ticket to attend Varieties struggled to find a seat between all of the reserved sections for the “friends of the college.” The price of the ticket alone was enough to keep most students from attending the event, which, based on the monetary goals of the event, may have been a strategy to keep the poor students at home and leave room for the donors.

To add insult to injury, a portion of the money used to put on Varieties came from an Augustana Student Association (ASA) allocation of the student activities fund. Student money was used to fund what became a primarily alumni event.

The ultimate success of this years’ Varieties performance came at the cost of alienating students. Those in choir and orchestra were left too tired to “fight on” anymore, and many even skipped the homecoming football game to have a few hours to sleep.

The students that actually did attend the event were forced to watch from the periphery, and the majority of the student body was left back on campus to entertain themselves. During one of the most high-risk party weekends of the year, according to Augustana Residence Life, students who didn’t attend Varieties had no alternate event (unless you count the football party).

Based on how current students are treated, it’s no wonder Augustana administration has to work so hard to get alumni to “sing out thy praises” for their alma mater.

]]>https://mlraposa.wordpress.com/2013/10/23/viking-days-neglects-students/feed/9Sarah's GallerymlraposaLife lessons from my summer in the cityhttps://mlraposa.wordpress.com/2013/07/14/life-lessons-from-my-summer-in-the-city/
https://mlraposa.wordpress.com/2013/07/14/life-lessons-from-my-summer-in-the-city/#respondSun, 14 Jul 2013 17:58:04 +0000http://mlraposa.wordpress.com/?p=93 Summer is half over, and it feels like it’s barely begun. Since leaving for college, I’ve found that summers are where I learn the most, usually from the School of Hard Knocks. Here are a few of the most important lessons I’ve learned in Minneapolis this summer:

1. It’s OK to get lost. Sometimes a quick trip to the hardware store turns into an 11-mile biking tour of Minneapolis. But that’s the best way to learn how to get around. On several outings in my time here, I’ve come across a cute coffee shop, seen a new neighborhood and discovered new parks that I never would’ve stumbled across if I hadn’t been lost. And I never would have met the nice couple that sat and joked with me at the bus stop where I stood with my bike as we waited for the thunderstorm to pass on my Great (Lost) Biking Adventure.

2. Commutes are what you make of them. It takes me around 30 minutes to get to my internship in the morning, and I’m lucky if I can get home in under 50. Driving back and forth 5 days a week adds up to quite a bit of time behind the wheel. As a true South Dakotan, I’ve grown up having zero patience for (and, really, zero exposure to) traffic, which means that going 20 mph behind a line of cars on the interstate is especially frustrating. I’ve realized, though, that my commute can also be a mini-road trip. I listen to music, pack a snack for myself, enjoy the solitude and, when in doubt, I can just call my mom, who always fields my traffic complaints.

3. Craigslist isn’t all “missed connections” and murderers. Like a stereotypical college student, all of my belongings fit in the back of my car. So when I got to Minneapolis, the only furniture I had in my apartment was my air mattress and some shelves a friend lent me. After a few days of sitting on a sleeping bag on the floor of my empty living room, I decided to take to Craigslist to find a couch. I ended up finding a futon for free from a nice couple who also happened to be Augustana alumni (Viking Pride!). Craigslist also led me to meet Beverly, a dog-lover who had a cute, vintage dresser to sell for only $15. They say one man’s trash is another man’s treasure. Craigslist just makes it all easier to sort through.

4. Less stuff, less stress. I’ve developed such a love for living simply. Before I moved to Minneapolis, I went through all of my clothes and belongings with a critical eye and thought, “Do I really need this?” Even after all that, I still have things in my apartment that I haven’t used once this summer. It’s so nice to live without clutter, and I honestly had no idea how few belongings I really needed. Besides, I’ve got a solid Internet connection. What more can a Millennial ask for?

Most importantly, I’ve learned the value of new experiences. I’ve learned that I am capable of moving to a new place and making it feel like home. Thanks, Minneapolis, for being so gosh darn “Minnesota Nice.”

]]>https://mlraposa.wordpress.com/2013/07/14/life-lessons-from-my-summer-in-the-city/feed/0Minneapolis-1mlraposaNewspapers may fade away, but news cannothttps://mlraposa.wordpress.com/2013/04/24/newspapers-may-fade-away-but-news-cannot/
https://mlraposa.wordpress.com/2013/04/24/newspapers-may-fade-away-but-news-cannot/#respondWed, 24 Apr 2013 18:30:29 +0000http://mlraposa.wordpress.com/?p=89A few weeks ago, I toured the production plant for the Minneapolis Star Tribune. Upon arriving, the tour guide handed me a pamphlet with the definition of “headline” and “reporter” written in Comic Sans and a diagram of how to make hats out of newsprint. It didn’t take me long to realize that these tours are catered toward 12-year-olds, not a 20-year-old journalism student. But I was already there, and I might as well check out the printing press.

Since I was the only person on the tour (I went during school hours), I had the opportunity to speak one-on-one with my tour guide about the changes occurring in the journalism industry. She used to work full time for the Star Tribune. After retiring, she came back as a full-time tour guide. Now she only works when a group of 10-year-olds go on a field trip.

As we walked around the plant, I was shocked by how few people we encountered. Many of the rooms I walked through were empty, and the production center had more machines than people. My tour guide explained various jobs that used to be done by several people and now have had to cut back.

She also told me about some of the questions she asks young students on tours. She asks them where they think news comes from, and most of the elementary, middle and even high school students answered that news reporters get their information from the Internet.

Their answers demonstrate how taken-for-granted information is nowadays. This generation of children is one of the first who has grown up never knowing anything besides the Internet, and because of this they’ve lost appreciation for the research behind the information posted.

Information has the capability to travel very quickly via the Internet, social media, text messaging, etc. But faster doesn’t always mean better. Regardless of the medium, people will always need an outlet that provides unbiased, factual information, which means news will always have a place in society.

It’s no secret that newspapers are in decline. No matter how fast a printing press can churn out copy, the Internet will always be faster. However, we have to make sure that eliminating newspapers doesn’t eliminate news.

As technology progresses and information-sharing shifts primarily online, the news industry needs to keep up with these changes just like any other industry. Retail stores will continue to expand and sell merchandise online. Novels and textbooks will continue to be offered digitally. In this respect, journalism is no different than any other industry in keeping up with technology.

However, journalists today are battling more than just technological change. They’re battling an overall shift in society’s views of the media. With all of the noise online, it’s often hard to distinguish fact from fiction and hard news from editorials.

News organizations carry much of the burden for making sure they distinguish their content as hard news and make it accessible online, but ultimately, the news industry will fail if society fails to recognize the pivotal role of the press in maintaining democracy.

The press is the only private industry protected by the Constitution. The Founding Fathers recognized the significance of the media as a “watchdog” of government that provides factual information on the inner workings of Congress free of bias. If people don’t support the media, they lose a major check on government because without the media, who will get the inside information on Washington and hold public figures accountable?

Blogging and editorializing have their place in media and online (see: Raposa’s Ramblings), but without a strong foundation of hard news, the next generation will grow up relying only on the information posted on the Internet with little appreciation for the freedoms afforded them by the media. Society needs news.

Without it, the lack of information will create a hole in society much larger than all of the empty printing presses.

]]>https://mlraposa.wordpress.com/2013/04/24/newspapers-may-fade-away-but-news-cannot/feed/0newspapermlraposaUncertainty proves challenging for millennial generationhttps://mlraposa.wordpress.com/2013/04/15/uncertainty-proves-challenging-for-millennial-generation/
https://mlraposa.wordpress.com/2013/04/15/uncertainty-proves-challenging-for-millennial-generation/#respondMon, 15 Apr 2013 20:27:29 +0000http://mlraposa.wordpress.com/?p=82If you’re wondering what the weather will be like tomorrow, just click the tiny picture of the sun on your iPhone.

Somewhere, meteorologists are analyzing Doppler radar systems to predict wind currents and where storms are moving. Somewhere else, programmers developed the software for the weather application and came up with a way for information to travel from the weatherman to your phone.The knowledge and technology that goes into something as common and taken-for-granted as the weather app is truly astounding.

Think about how easy it is to find information. Five minutes on a Google search, and you can learn about virtually anything you want to know. The amount of information available at the tips of our fingers is overwhelming, and we grew up with the constant ability to find answers to whatever questions we had.The millennial generation in particular likes to have answers. We’ve lived to see many significant scientific and technological advances, and many more are always on the brink of discovery.However, all of this information comes with a negative side effect. Those of us who grew up in the digital age are increasingly unable to cope with uncertainty.In a world where I can find an explanation of the chemical makeup of water and predictions of the amount of snow Sioux Falls will see in April, it’s somewhat frightening to not know where I’m going to live next summer or whether I’ll even survive to see the end of the Sioux Falls “icepocalypse” storm.

With all of the information wandering around the World Wide Web, it’s hard to believe there are aspects of life that we still don’t understand. Yet, uncertainty is all around.I have no idea where my life will take me. I don’t know where I’m going to work when I graduate. I don’t know when I’ll meet my future spouse (assuming I don’t end up alone), and I don’t know how my work will make an impact on society.

If I can’t answer those questions in my life, how could I possibly wrap my head around the meaning of life, what happens after death, or reconciling differences among world religions and cultures? In the digital age, we often don’t think any deeper than a Google search.Instead of contemplating life’s most important questions, we distract ourselves by trying to understand everything else. It’s easier to memorize the periodic table than it is to define your core values, so why not just memorize?

We so often get caught up in keeping up with technology and trying to be on top of the constant stream of new information that we lose sight of the value of uncertainty.It’s counterintuitive to encourage uncertainty, especially coming from the girl who has a color-coordinated, hourly schedule on Google calendars.

However, some of the greatest moments of growth in my life have come during times of uncertainty.When I can’t rely on facts and figures, I’m left with my core beliefs and values, and Google can’t define those for me. If we millennials put as much time into defining our personal values as we do surfing the web, we would be much more comfortable when faced with questions we can’t answer.Once we’ve established strong foundational values that allow us to maintain a sense of peace in uncertainty, then we can expand our minds even further.Instead of just finding more ways to share information, we can find ways to share values and create dialogue.Millenials have mastered many aspects of reconciling the “real world” with the digital world, but we need to remember to hold on to the values of past generations.

Information and technology have the power to take us very far in society, but we need to make sure we have our values in place, because, when faced with uncertainty, that’s what will allow us to find the answers.

]]>https://mlraposa.wordpress.com/2013/04/15/uncertainty-proves-challenging-for-millennial-generation/feed/0Road-Ahead-Unclear-600mlraposaProcrastination Threatens Successhttps://mlraposa.wordpress.com/2013/03/01/procrastination-threatens-success/
https://mlraposa.wordpress.com/2013/03/01/procrastination-threatens-success/#commentsFri, 01 Mar 2013 23:52:59 +0000http://mlraposa.wordpress.com/?p=73For a society that thrives on instant gratification, we’ve sure gotten good at putting things off. I used to think that the biggest threat facing society was apathy, but looking at the millennial generation, the real threat emerging is procrastination.

Our parents and grandparents grew up understanding the value of delayed gratification. Frankly, they had no choice. Thirty years ago, if a person wanted to learn the history behind the Emancipation Proclamation, they had to go down to the library and research using encyclopedias. Nowadays, you could get Siri to read you the Gettysburg Address while you’re waiting at a stoplight.

We’ve grown up having a world of information always available to us. We each have so many opportunities to learn and connect with the rest of the world, yet we so often fail to live up to our potential to make a real contribution to society. In fact, we often fail to even accomplish the bare minimum in fulfilling work and school obligations.

For example, writing a research paper for a class used to entail going to the library, finding books, searching for relevant information and ultimately compiling that information from various sources into a cohesive conclusion.

Now, we often take for granted the information available to us. Rather than digging deeper and taking time to think, we tend to wait until the last minute and skim the first five results from Google. The time we could have spent thinking and understanding a complex topic is instead spent tweeting about how cold the library is or pinning workout routines that will most likely never be used.

While social media has made us more connected globally, on an individual level it has created disconnect between our goals and reality. We exhaust excessive effort portraying ourselves in a positive light online, and in the process we can become distracted from actually taking steps to better ourselves.

No matter how many recipes I pin, the only way I’ll become a better cook is if I actually spend time in my kitchen. I can talk about my workout goals, career goals and educational goals on Facebook, but if I spend hours each night creeping pictures of my high school friends, I’m taking that time away from working on my true passions.

It’s not just college students who are affected by procrastination. Look at politicians today. The looming sequestration is the result of months of delayed budget talks. In all of the time spent playing the blame game in Washington, Congress could have at least started taking steps toward fixing the economy.

Instead, we now have democrats blaming republicans for refusing to raise taxes. Republicans are blaming democrats for reckless spending and unsustainable entitlement programs. The American public is blaming politicians based on whatever political fodder they glean from biased news media, and rather than being angry at the petty politics, everyone seems content just to have an adequate scapegoat.

Political procrastination left us without a congressionally approved budget for the last three years and counting, and, while we managed not to fall off the “fiscal cliff,” we’ve yet to see practical economic solutions in place. If the delays keep arising, on March 1 the sequester will cause $85 billion in cuts across the board before the end of the fiscal year in September.

The real problem underlying the nation-wide procrastination trend is a simple lack of priorities. Losing sight of what’s really important is an inevitable consequence of constantly being surrounded by distractions.

We’re living among a generation of people who have been raised taking time for granted.

In my own life, I’m equally guilty of procrastination. Every week, I tell myself that I’m going to write all of my news stories before press night, yet here I sit, working on writing when I could have had my section printed hours ago. I have no excuse. I’m busy, but so is everyone.

So why is it so hard to get things done on time? It often feels like I’m busy 24 hours a day. I’m always doing something for my various classes and student groups, but even with all of that work, I find myself constantly tempted to spend time on Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Pinterest, etc.

I’ve allowed myself to give in to these distracting temptations so much so that I jump like a well-trained dog every time an iPhone goes off in my general vicinity. Procrastination isn’t so much a choice as it is an assumed part of my day.

In order to get past my procrastination tendencies, I need to get my priorities back in order, and I don’t think I’m the only one. The world doesn’t need more petty distractions, scapegoats and goals that don’t materialize. We need to take a step back, roll up our shirtsleeves, and get to work.

Recently an internship application asked me what I feel is the most critical threat to liberty currently facing our society. Here is my response:

Liberty functions best when citizens are informed about the workings of their government. When government actions are transparent, citizens have the freedom to respond and keep politicians in check. In the absence of accurate information, government transparency clouds, and citizens are left to form their political opinions on fragmented facts and biases.

Therefore, the most critical threat to liberty is bias in the media. If journalists fail to uphold a standard of objectivity, their role in maintaining democracy fails as well. Citizens rely on journalists to be “watchdogs” of government, but many popular news outlets have failed to distinguish hard news from political commentary. Rather than providing factual information about topics otherwise unknown to the average citizen, many news media are catering to reaffirm political predispositions of their audience.

Eliminating this threat to liberty begins with journalists. News media need to refocus their goals and revert back to traditional standards of objectivity above all else. Failing to differentiate fact from opinion in news leads the general public to distrust the media, and when news sources lose credibility, liberty cannot stand.